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"The individual’s yearning for freedom can never be repressed. It always finds expression, in one form or another."
Monumental art speaks truth to power
Ai Weiwei is unafraid to speak truth to power. He’s one of the most famous living artists today – a testament to the breadth and vision of his practice. Effortlessly, he moves between different media, from sculpture and architecture to performance and documentary film. His work is often monumental in scale and is driven by a hunger for truth and justice. In 2008, for example, Ai spent many months collecting the names of over 5000 children who lost their lives in the Sichuan earthquake. This unflinching dedication to human rights saw him detained by the Chinese government for 81 days in 2009, a...
Bio
Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing and now lives and works between Cambridge, Lisbon and Berlin.
Activism
Ai is renowned for championing human rights. He received the 2015 Ambassador of Conscience Award from Amnesty International and the 2012 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation.
Did you know?
In 1960s New York Ai met the legendary beat poet Allen Ginsberg, who encouraged him to document his memories. Doing so remains a cornerstone of Ai's practice, and of his diary-like Instagram feed.
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essayAside layout
The origin story for a new collaboration with New York legend José Parlá got us thinking about some of the unexpected places where artists find their art.
